Joker's Paradise
by Helo34
Summary: Isra Malak meets with a potential asset at Quarks's. Rated T for mild peril and dastardly deeds. A Canton adventure set in the Star Trek Online universe.


**Stardate 80628**

 **DS9**

Isra sat at a table in a darkened corner of the second floor in Quark's. She wore the same black leather jacket and blue pants that she always wore on trips like this. The jacket was reinforced with enough energy absorbing material to dissipate a couple small weapon shots. The pants were just really comfortable. She always arrived early when meeting new people so they had less time to set up a trap but getting here two hours early made for a boring day. Isra settled in to her seat and got ready for a long wait. She waited a few minutes until no one was looking, then slowly slipped a disk out of her pocket and stuck it to the bottom of the table. She gave it a gentle tug. Satisfied that it was secure she removed the pistol from her other pocket and pushed it onto the disk until it clicked. She checked that her bug scrambler was still where she had put it and that her comm link was silenced. Finally, as prepared as she could be, Isra leaned back in her chair and sipped her glass of Kali-fal.

An alien walked in right at 1400 hours station time. She was of average height and had blueish-purple skin with pink horns tattooed on her forehead. The alien was dressed in Klingon Defense leathers and had a sash normally reserved for ship captains. Isra gave her a small wave and the woman started walking towards her table. "You wanted to talk?" Isra asked, glad that the alien was on time.

"My name is Ka'ra. I have something to offer you, something you'll want." Isra shrugged, thinking this had been a waste of time. "What if I told you there was a Klingon fleet massing for an attack on New Romulus? What would that be worth to you?" Suddenly more interested Isra sat up and nodded for Ka'Ra to continue. "Some Klingons and Romulans are unhappy with how New Romulus happened. They believe that they should be in charge and have teamed up with the Tal Shiar to regain control of the sector. Of course, such an action would provoke your people just as much as D'Tan. The fleet is assembling as we speak and will attack in four days. Fortunately, I know where they are."

"And what do you want in return?" Isra asked, skeptical of the price. "A Federation prisoner to execute in front of my crew" Ka'Ra bared her sharp, grey teeth in a predatory grin.

Isra shook her head. "That's not negotiable."

Ka'Ra seemed slightly disappointed at her statement. "I expected so. Take out the leader of that fleet and I will continue to feed you information, in return for other... 'accidents'." Ka'ra bared her teeth again.

Now that she understood the game, Isra smiled. "That I can do."

Ka'ra passed a microchip over to Isra. "This has all the information you need. If you can, use a flesh-eating germ on him. Call it, poetic justice."

Isra kept a straight face and pocketed the chip. "I'll check it out. If you're right I'll be in touch". Ka'ra smiled and left.

Isra waited a few minutes and finished her drink. About to leave, she noticed a Gorn barreling out of the doorway and walking towards her. She slipped her hand onto the grip of the pistol and waited for him to get to her table. "Whhhhere issss sssshhhe?" he asked.

Isra looked confused. "Who?"

The Gorn crossed his arms. "My captain."

She shook her head. "I don't know who you're talking about." The Gorn growled, baring his teeth.

Isra slipped her pistol off the magnet holding it to the table and brought it to the edge nearest to her. It was still concealed by the table top, but now close enough to draw quickly. After staring her down for a minute he stomped off. She let out the breath she had been unconsciously holding and returned the pistol to her jacket pocket, pulling the magnet off right after. She gave him a couple minutes head start and walked out of Quark's. She made it back to the shuttle bay without incident and was on a shuttle back to the Heilonjiang an hour later. Isra pulled a small PADD out of her jacket pocket and started typing up orders.

 **To:** Agent MARTAL

 **From:** Director, Cartel Intelligence

 **Operation:** JOKER Old Guard

 **Classification:** Top Secret

Target: Kuon, Brigadier General KDF. Informant JOKER believes Kuon is assembling a fleet to attack New Romulus and is working with members of the Tal Shiar to overthrow the Romulan Republic.

Location: Archanis sector, Eti Eridani block. Awaiting fleet arrival before making a push into the Alderbaren sector. Fleet will likely take four days to complete assembly.

Mission: Confirm fleet buildup in Archanis sector. Verify the IKS K'mpec is present. If intel is confirmed, arrange for flesh eating contagion to be introduced onboard Kuon's ship. Otherwise abort. Secondary objective is to assure spread to other ships and/or KDF first responders.

Two days later Isra grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at her desk. She skimmed the reports that had come in the night before and found a mission complete on Joker Old Guard. She was pleased to see that Operative Martal had managed to neutralize the target ship and two others with the contagion. The rest of the fleet dispersed, fearing further infection. She sent back a congratulatory message and pulled an encrypted comm link out of the locked drawer in her desk. She tried to reach Ka'ra but couldn't get an answer. Surprised and slightly annoyed, Isra searched the Federation Intelligence database for mentions of Ka'ra or her ship. She pulled up a summary of events from the day after their meeting. Stuck in between Klingon-Romulan trade agreements and an analysis of Chancellor J'mpok's latest state dinner party were two lines:

 _Ka'ra, Captain of the IKS HoSDuj, was abruptly executed for treason by First Officer Szuss. Szuss was subsequently confirmed as the Captain of the HoSDuj._

Isra sighed and closed the event report. She filed an amended operation report with a completion summary and attached the note about Ka'ra. When that was sent she hit the reset button on the bottom of her secured comm link and watched it melt. The remains went into the trash bin and a new comm link went into her drawer, ready for her next asset. Disappointed, Isra shut the drawer and started looking through the small mountain of PADDs on her desk.


End file.
